


Safe

by robot870



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: Kinda, M/M, Petplay, it's not sexual but it is very gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 15:08:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17082632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robot870/pseuds/robot870
Summary: Being Perceptor is stressful, and Brainstorm wants to help make it a little less so.





	Safe

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: this is EXTREMELY self-indulgent, written in about an hour with no planning, and i'm only posting it here so i don't have to have it in my google docs. also, forgive the bad formatting, i didn't feel like fiddling with it any more than i already had to to make it readable.

 Being Perceptor was stressful.

 It wasn’t that he faced a lot of stress from the outside (though he sometimes did). It was his own fault. Mind always going. Always thinking and overthinking. Running in circles, creating problems just to create solutions. All mentally, of course.

 It was exhausting.

 

 Brainstorm knew this, not only because he knew his boyfriend well enough, but also because he often felt the same. He didn't stress nearly as much as Perceptor did, but the endless whirling thoughts in his brain sometimes got overwhelming. As both knew, issues like chronic stress and overthinking can't be cured or fixed in any reasonable amount of time. Brainstorm, though, knew how he liked to cope.

 "This is going to help me...how?"  
"Look, Perce, you gotta trust me on this. I know it's not something you'd think of, and that's a good thing."  
Perceptor wasn't entirely sure that was a good thing, but he had been wrong before. "So. You're going to put this on me and I'm going to become...what?"  
"Yer not gonna _become_ anything. This little gadget is just a reminder. A nudge, kinda. It's not going to make you do anything you truly don't want to do."

 An awkward silence hung in the air for a few moments. Brainstorm knew this was going to be difficult to start. But he also knew it would help his boyfriend more than any of the damn repressed bot's go-to, rational, clinical-type approaches.

 "Fine. We can try this. Only because I'm curious as to how this works, and you've supposedly encased a lot of very subtle neural technology in a relatively thin band of material."  
Brainstorm held in the urge to pump his fist in excitement and/or triumph and instead took the device -- no, the collar -- from Perceptor's hands. The microscope had a worried look on his face, which wasn't uncommon for him, but what was uncommon was the deep look of trust in his eyes. Brainstorm couldn't look him in the optics for long -- he wasn't quite ready to handle that yet. Not now. Think about that later. For now, do the...put on the...put the collar on his neck. Yeah.

 The fastener quietly clicked into place and Perceptor immediately felt...something. It definitely wasn't coming from the circuits in the collar, which worried him, until he realized it was coming from his own brain. Or maybe spark. It was a feeling of comfort, of trust, of relaxing a clenched fist. He couldn't figure out why the simple ring fastened around his neck made him feel so...safe.  The absolute adoration in Brainstorm's eyes helped, though.

 Brainstorm practically vibrated. This was happening. And there wasn't a tense crackle in the air like he expected, the kind that happens when Percy gets frustrated by an equation or by Brainstorm loudly tinkering with exploding things. The only sound was the hum of the ship, the rumble of Brainstorm's engines, and the quiet whirr of Perceptor's motor processor.  
  
"Okay. I'm going to turn it on now. That okay?"  
Perceptor nodded, a look on his face Brainstorm couldn't quite place, because he wasn't sure he'd ever seen him make it before. Didn't seem bad, though. Not that any face Perceptor could make was bad. They were all pretty good, to be honest.

 

 The device's activation almost made Perceptor jump. He didn't, of course. But a device around one's neck suddenly releasing a strong directed probing signal is jarring to anyone. Pushing past the initial discomfort of an outside signal asking to get into your brain isn't easy to do on a good day. Today wasn't really a good day -- hence Brainstorm's insistence on trying his "treatment" today in particular. Perceptor looked into his boyfriend's optics, his own wavering.

Brainstorm put a hand on his cheek. "It's okay. You're okay. I love you. You're going to feel good. Do you trust me?"  
A nod.  
"If you ever, ever want to stop, send literally any code you want to the device. It'll shut off immediately if you ping it at all. You control this."  
Another nod, and a dimming, and then shuttering of bright blue optics.

 

 It was warm. A feeling of safety, like the one he had when putting on the collar, but amplified. A feeling of emptiness, but not hollowness. A relief. Perceptor retracted the shutter on his optics, slowly, only halfway. The world felt soft and light felt sharp. He involuntarily let out a quiet whimper.

 Brainstorm immediately scrambled to the lighting dial on the wall, turning the dimmer to a more comfortable level. Releasing certain locks in the brain changes sensitivity to light, and he totally should have remembered to do this beforehand, but he was all distracted by...all that, and he-

 Perceptor staggered. His balance stopped working as well, and he lowered himself onto his hands and knees. This felt better. More stable. Brainstorm rushed back over to him, slowly reaching down to touch his helm.

"Hey there, boy. You doing okay?"  
He knew Perceptor couldn't answer him in words, so he waited for a nonverbal response.  He wasn't prepared for the mech at his feet to nudge his head up and into his hand and start. Purring. He was purring. Softly, at first, but as Brainstorm moved his hand to pet his mech's helm, the rumble increased until he couldn't just feel the vibration, but he heard it.

Oh my god he was precious.

 

 Perceptor wasn't the easiest to carry, his shoulders wider than they frankly should be and the scope on his shoulder very easy to whack things with on accident, but Brainstorm got the red mech into his arms and deposited him on the berth. The soft, sturdy mat on top of the recharge slab absorbed any impact, but Percy looked positively distraught.

"Hey, hey, don't worry, I'm coming," Brainstorm cooed as he wriggled up onto the slab. He sat up against the wall and patted his lap. "C'mere. There we go."

 The warm pulses of reassuring information coming from the collar slipped Perceptor deeper and deeper into the headspace. Warmth. Safety. His boyfriend settling onto the soft mat he was currently splayed awkwardly on. Open arms, a soft gaze. He crawled forward, ventilation even yet increasing. He finally made it to his jet's lap after what felt like an eternity. A safe spot. A nice place to rest his head. Perceptor laid himself fully on Brainstorm's lap, motors purring as his hand rested onto his helm. This was nice. He didn't even remember to worry. There were no thoughts except the embrace, the comfort, of Brainstorm's body around his.

 Brainstorm gently ran his hand across and around Perceptor's helm. With each gentle stroke he felt the mech in his lap relax further, until he had a puddle of Perceptor laying contentedly in his hands. He ran a finger over the pliable metal of his face. Even in recharge his face was usually scrunched in deep thought, a perpetual grimace at the thought of processing a world with too many variables.

Someday he hoped Perceptor would be able to do this without needing the electrical nudges from the collar, but the item didn't have to go away completely. It was kind of nice having a pet purring in his lap, blissful with just the warmth of the other's body and the touch of his hands. Even better that the pet was Perceptor, his Perceptor. His lab partner, his partner in science, his boyfriend, his future...who knows. For now all that mattered was the present, anyway. Brainstorm flicked the power switch on the recharge slab and the metal underneath the soft mat quickly warmed with energy. Might as well get a recharge in this downtime. Perceptor had already entered active stasis, his purring slowed but still a gentle rumble in his chest. Brainstorm let himself drift off as well, not entering full stasis but enjoying the hazy feeling of a world dulled, with only his microscope a warm presence in his arms.

 

 Perceptor awoke 4.67 hours later to a strangely empty feeling. Brainstorm's hand moved slowly away from his neck, clearly an attempt not to wake him up, a futile effort. The collar was gone, and the warm pulses of reassurance weren't there, but there was still a feeling of safety. Of course, being in his boyfriend's lap was a major factor there, but there was something deeper. The relief he had felt hadn't gone away completely when the collar was removed. There was something resonating in his spark. Nothing science couldn't explain, but for now...he didn't feel like explaining it.

He just wanted to enjoy it.


End file.
